This application claims priority to GB Patent Application No. 1400644.9 filed 15 Jan. 2014, the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
This disclosure relates to the field of data processing systems. More particularly, this disclosure relates to multiply add arithmetic within data processing systems.
It is known to provide data processing systems with arithmetic circuitry that performs multiply add operations of the form A+(B*C), where A, B and C are all floating point numbers. The input operands and the output results will typically have an expected format specifying an exponent value and a mantissa value for the floating point number concerned. The number of bits used to represent the floating point number will place a constraint upon the range of possible exponent values that are supported for a given floating point number format. One example of such floating point number formats are given in the IEEE Standard 754.